Paper short abstract:

The paper examines challenges to development and integration in the Central Africa subregion The absent of the state in the developmental endeavours of these countries and the outright display of quasi-nationalist tendencies on the part of others have render the task of nation building difficult.

Paper long abstract:

Africa South of the Sahara and particularly the Central African Sub-region has been lacking behind in various development indicators over the years. Issues relating to ethnicity, language, religion and ideology, combined with the global commons of the 1980s and 1990s have contributed to this economic stagnation couple with the unresolved difficulties of state formation. The Akerian concept of alternative to meanstream developmental thinking has equally not taken root into the clientilist and patronage system that is the hallmark of Central African economies. The paper examines some of these challenges and indicates how they have contributed to the slow pace of integration in the sub-region which is a sine quo non for development in the continent. The absent of the state in the developmental endeavours of these countries and the outright display of quasi-nationalist tendencies on the part of others have render the task of nation building difficult and in some cases impossible. Given the vulnerability of the countries of the subregion to coups and instability and a general dearth of development thinkers in the league of Sekou Toure, Nyerere or Nkrumah has render the task of development institutions much harder. The paper analyses Claude Ake's alternative developmental concept and contends how such a model can be applied in the subregion. It examines the challenges of the application of the Akerian concept and reflects on the challenges of crafting and implimenting development programmes on the continent.